0p0 Chapter 171 Governing the Peninsula
Chapter 171 Governing the Peninsula
After Sun Chengzong and the Liaodong generals formulated a battle plan to recover the lost territory, they immediately began to assign tasks to the generals.
Deputy General Bao Chengxian and Lieutenant General Sun Degong stationed in Shenyang were eager to attack Fushun. Seeing this, He Shixian and You Shigong also wanted to attack Fushun, but were stopped by Lu Cheng.
Finally, He Shixian was in charge of attacking Weining Fort, and Lu Cheng assisted in the battle. You Shigong and Tong Zhongkui were in charge of attacking Qinghe Fort.
General Chen Ce was responsible for attacking Fushun, and his deputy general Bao Chengxian and lieutenant general Sun Degong assisted in the battle.
After the tasks were assigned, generals from all directions went to mobilize troops, and Lu Cheng also returned to Haizhou Wei and assigned the troops for this expedition.
Of the 5,000 soldiers Lu Cheng sent out this time, there were 1,500 musketeers, 300 of whom were equipped with muzzle-loading flintlocks, and 1,200 of whom were equipped with breech-loading flintlocks. There were also 100 blasters, carrying grenades, explosives and other supplies.
In addition to these, the rest are still mainly cold weapons, including archers, sword and shield soldiers, spearmen, etc.
He Shixian was brave and resourceful, and was very good at commanding troops. In addition, the Weining Fort that He Shixian wanted to attack was the closest castle to Liaoyang. The castle was not very big, and it was not difficult to attack.
Therefore, Lu Cheng directly asked one of his commanders to lead 5000 soldiers and horses to follow He Shixian and obey He Shixian's orders.
As for Lu Cheng himself, he did not directly participate in this war, but rushed to North Korea again to formulate various targeted strategies to completely take over the Korean Peninsula.
Even if those places in the north were conquered, they had nothing to do with Lu Cheng.
Moreover, Lu Cheng had already killed Nurhaci, and his contributions underground were already great enough. There was no need for him to compete with those generals for the credit of recovering the lost territory.
Of course, Lu Cheng did not participate in this battle because he wanted some people to recognize his own strength.
Don't think that Lu Cheng was able to defeat the Later Jin because it was not as strong as before. Don't become arrogant just because the Later Jin suffered a few defeats.
Although Nurhaci is dead, Huang Taiji is still alive. Compared with Nurhaci, Huang Taiji is more troublesome.
Those who dare to underestimate the Later Jin will definitely fall here. Waiting for others to suffer losses can also highlight how capable Lu Cheng is.
Of course, at this time Lu Cheng did not put too much energy on the battlefield in the north, but was preparing to manage the Korean Peninsula well.
Not long ago, those who claimed to be descendants of the Li royal family were sent to Anzhou.
Of course, among the royal descendants who successfully reached Anzhou, none was over the age of 12, and the rest died on the way for various reasons.
Lu Cheng personally met this group of Li descendants, and invited officials in charge of the Li royal family genealogy to screen the last few Li children who arrived. Any counterfeit ones were directly sent to be slaves.
Finally, six children were confirmed to be descendants of the Li family. Lu Cheng took another look at the six children. The youngest was only 6 years old and the oldest was 12 years old.
Among them, the oldest one, who was twelve years old, was a pretty girl named Li Yi. She also had an eight-year-old brother named Li Yan.
The brother and sister are the granddaughter and grandson of the 14th monarch of the Lee Dynasty. They are of the same generation as the Korean King Yi Jong who was killed by the Later Jin not long ago.
After a little thought, Lu Cheng kept the brother and sister. The younger brother was helped to ascend the throne and became the 17th king of the Kingdom of Korea, and the older sister was made Princess Heshun.
The reason why we chose these two siblings is because they have a good relationship and are relatively cowardly, making them easier to control.
As for the other four children, they are all alone, without any other relatives or concerns, and the uncertainty of their future is greater.
After helping Korea establish a new monarch, Lu Cheng also issued a series of decrees on behalf of the royal family. First, he reduced the taxes on the people and restored the tax standards to the standards before Korea was ruled by the Later Jin Dynasty, which directly won the people's support for the new generation of monarchs.
Immediately afterwards, Lu Cheng dispatched more than 10,000 soldiers and thousands of security forces to various cities on the Korean Peninsula. In the name of protecting the people and maintaining public order, he took over the defense of each city.
Most of the soldiers stationed on the Korean Peninsula were bachelors. Lu Cheng also encouraged his soldiers to marry local Korean young women, and would give certain tax exemptions to families willing to marry their daughters to Ming soldiers.
At the same time, those Korean people who actively learn Chinese culture and move closer to China will be given priority in being granted some low-level officials.
At the same time, Lu Cheng also dispatched a group of scholars and students from Liaodong to establish schools on the Korean Peninsula to teach Chinese and Chinese characters and spread Chinese culture.
The Intelligence Department also dispatched some intelligence personnel who were proficient in the local Korean language and writing to infiltrate the ordinary people and publicize that North Korea and China share the same origin and have been an inseparable part of China since ancient times.
In fact, these propaganda are also based on history.
At the end of the Shang Dynasty, King Zhou of Shang's uncle Ji Zi was dissatisfied with King Zhou's rule and made repeated appeals, which eventually angered King Zhou and led to him being demoted to a slave.
When King Wu of Zhou was attacking King Zhou of Zhou, Jizi led his people to escape to the Korean Peninsula and established a country there, also known as "Jizi Korea".
Moreover, North Korea has always promoted Confucian culture and governed the country with Confucian ideas. All dynasties have been dependent on the Central Plains dynasties and are not so hostile to China.
Compared with the Later Jin Dynasty, the series of political decrees formulated by Lu Cheng were of great benefit to ordinary people. While improving their living standards, they also made them study Chinese culture more diligently.
Such a policy naturally won the support of the general public.
Of course, there were also some nobles of the Joseon Dynasty who believed that Lu Cheng was destroying their country, eroding their culture, and wanted to incite the people to rise up in resistance.
But such nobles who fail to recognize the situation will often disappear quickly, either buried in the soil as fertilizer for flowers, or sent into the sea to feed the fish.
After a series of policies were promulgated, the entire Korean Peninsula quickly returned to peace. The cities and towns destroyed by the Later Jin cavalry began to be rebuilt, and the Liaodong soldiers enjoyed very high treatment here.
Many bachelors who had fought in wars for many years began to actively respond to Lu Cheng's call and marry local young women.
Lu Cheng also gave certain rewards for these.
Anyone who marries a local woman and gives birth to a child will be rewarded with some piglets, cattle, sheep, chickens, ducks and other livestock for each child to encourage them to actively have children.
Of course, all of this requires a process, and children cannot be born just like that.
Just when Lu Cheng formulated a series of policies and began to promote them, the generals in the north who had completed their preparations finally began to recover lost territory.
The first person to take action was naturally He Shixian.
He Shixian led his own 5000 troops, plus soldiers supported by Lu Cheng, and was the first to prepare for battle. He launched a surprise attack on Weining Fort at night, blew up the city gate with gunpowder, and captured Weining Fort overnight.
Immediately afterwards, You Shigong and Tong Zhongkui joined forces and led 3 troops to attack Qinghe Fort.
After a day and night of fighting, Qinghe Fort was captured without a doubt.
It may be that the Later Jin Dynasty had lost Nurhaci and was in chaos, and had not organized a decent resistance, which made the previous two sieges go extremely smoothly.
Immediately afterwards, generals He Shixian, You Shigong and Tong Zhongkui each sent some troops to recapture nearby villages and towns and annihilate the remaining forces of the Later Jin.
On the other hand, Chen Ce and others' attack on Fushun was not very smooth.
An army of 40,000 attacked Fushun. The siege lasted for two days but there was no progress and the army suffered heavy casualties.
On the third day, the Later Jin army sent troops to support. Twenty thousand Later Jin cavalrymen engaged in a field battle with the army of veteran general Chen Ce, and the 40,000 Ming troops quickly fell into a disadvantage.
Even with weapons such as gunpowder and artillery, the Ming army was still unable to withstand the charge of the Later Jin cavalry and was caught off guard.
Shenyang deputy general Bao Chengxian took the lead in leading his troops to flee, abandoning the main general Chen Ce, causing Chen Ce to be besieged by the Later Jin army.
Lieutenant General Sun Degong also attempted to escape, but was caught up by the Later Jin cavalry and was forced to kneel down and surrender.
Poor old General Chen Ce, who was already over 70 years old, was surrounded by the Later Jin cavalry. He fought to the last man and killed more than a dozen Later Jin cavalry. Finally, he was exhausted and shot to death by the Later Jin cavalry's arrows.
When He Shixian, You Shigong and other generals rushed to rescue, the old general Chen Ce, who was over 70 years old, died in the middle of the battlefield along with his beloved warhorse. There were more than 30 arrows on his body and his armor was in tatters.
A clay pot is bound to break near a well, and a general is bound to die in battle.
When Lu Cheng heard the news, he felt a little emotional. The 72-year-old general had a good relationship with Lu Cheng, but he didn't expect that he would die in the battlefield this time.
However, dying on the battlefield at the age of over 70 may be a good fate for a veteran...